The Farm, from across the way

I love painting scenes from my grandma's farm. My mind goes to a different place and I'm totally 'in the moment'. It's a great feeling!

Here's the reference photo I used:

Is This Your Dog II

Another mystery dog I painted from a random Facebook photo, I forget whose. Is this your dog?

Driveway at The Farm

This painting is based on a beautiful photo my cousin Amy took of the driveway of the old family farm. It was an exercise in 'negative space' painting-- I started with a black canvas and then painted the sky and leaves around the tree trunks and branches, letting that define the shapes of the trunks/branches. Fun, fun!

Painting class!

I took a great painting class up at the Art Colony in Grand Marais this past week. It was Monday through Friday from 9-4, so we painted our tails off! It was a great group of people, and the weather was gorgeous. I am feeling totally recharged! 

Here are some of the little still lifes I painted. These are hard for me since I usually paint from photos. Drawing 3D from life instead of 2D from photos is something I need to work on. 

Pine cone 

Apple

Lime

Folding chair

Dandelion Disco

I've painted from this same reference photo before (see March 2014), but this time the colors took on a more 'nocturnal' feel. It's also a little bit in the way the painting photographed, it's not quite accurate. In any case, it kind of reminds me of a disco- I dig it!

Focused Callie

Yet another Callie painting. She always looks so focused to me. I wish I knew what she was thinking! 

I'm taking a week-long painting class in Grand Marais next week, I hope to have lots to post after!

Practice, practice, practice

I've been painting quite a bit lately but have been frustrated with how things are turning out. One subject I've been working on is my brother's dog, Raven. Here are a few of my attempts. I'm not completely satisfied with any of them, but I do feel like they're progressing at least. Here they are, from most recent to first painted:

Raven - take 3

Raven - take 2

Raven - take 1

Olive!

I've been painting a lot lately but haven't been liking how anything is turning out. I do think it's been good practice, but it's frustrating not to have anything to share. So here's a "TBT", one I painted over a year ago. It's my friend Jody's cat, Olive. Today is their 4-year anniversary! Olive was the tiniest kitten I'd ever seen when Jody adopted her. Now she's all grown up and loves to sleep in the paper recycling. :)

More Dandelions

I painted dandelions once before and really enjoyed mixing all the yellows, so here's another one. I haven't had much luck painting other flowers- that will be a good challenge for this summer! 

More Stripey Cats

Here's a painting I did a while back of my friend Kerry's cat, Stuart. I've never actually seen Stuart in person because he's sooooo shy. He was fun to paint though! I like the orangey bits in his face.

And here is a painting I've posted before but I hadn't painted the background. I was surprised how much painting a little color in the background changed the whole feel of the painting so I wanted to re-post. This is Roger, my friend Camille's cat.

Is this your dog?

I think I nabbed the reference photo for this painting off Facebook. I can't remember for sure. Is this your dog?